The podium included an X Games slopestyle gold medallist and a two-time X Games silver medallist. The field of 67 competitors at the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) world championships in Whistler also featured the Olympic silver medallist and two other X Games medallists.

And standing atop podium was Oakville’s Evan McEachran, who had finished 29th at last year’s event. Just a month ago, he sat 20th in the AFP world rankings and had yet to earn a medal at a platinum-level AFP event.

Did the 17-year-old feel like he was crashing a party?

“Maybe a little bit,” he said. “I’m alright with that.”

But his rivals have no one to blame but themselves if they didn’t see the 17-year-old coming. McEachran announced his arrival three weeks earlier with a fourth-place finish at the Dumont Cup, against perhaps an even tougher field in another AFP’s platinum-level event. But his late-season surge had its beginnings back in January.

While Canada’s winter athletes were preparing for the Olympics, many of whom McEachran had trained alongside as a member of Canada’s development team, he was just trying to establish a name for himself on the slopestyle circuit.

At the North Face Park and Pipe Open Series earned his first victory in a gold-level Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) event.

“When I won that it really helped my confidence,” he said. “When I took the win there, I wanted that feeling again. I started pushing myself harder.”

Those efforts paid off. In the months that followed, McEachern found himself on the podium at two more AFP gold-level events — a silver in Aspen and a gold at Blue Mountain before his big breakthrough at the Dumont Cup, which boosted him to 13th in the AFP rankings.

He headed to Whistler for the season-closing event brimming with confidence. McEachran took full advantage of a course design that played to his strengths.

“I stepped up my run a little,” he said. “All the jumps were the same but the rail setup fit my trick repertoire.”

He earned a scored of 87.17 while 2010 X Games slopestyle champ Bobby Brown took second with a mark of 84.67. New Zealand’s Jossi Wells took third, checking in at 81.33. McEachran’s brother, Reid, also turned in a strong showing in Whistler. He finished 12th for his best finish in a platinum-level event.

The victory was a result McEachran could not have envisioned at the start of the season.

“Not a chance,” he said. “I worked pretty hard this year and learned a lot of new tricks. To put them all together, it feels awesome.”

After jumping to No. 7 in the AFP rankings, it’s unlikely McEachran will sneak up on anyone next season. But he’s already plotting improvements for next season, unfortunately, they’ll have to wait for now.

“No skiing until we’re back at the glacier (in August), it’s a bummer,” McEachran said. “I just want to keep skiing. I miss it already.”